A Maoris teaching team visited British Columbia. The visit was reciprocated by The Journey of Teech-ma, the First Nations Travel Teaching Trip to the South Pacific. See entry for 24 March, 1997. [SDSC370]

The nine member First Nations Travel Teaching Trip to the South Pacific, called "The Journey of Teech-ma" consisted of Canadian Bahá'ís from Kwakiutl, Nuu-Cha-Nuth, the Ojibway First Nations, a Yupik Bahá'í from Alaska and three non-Native Canadian friends. They shared their culture and their Faith with the Maori, other New Zealanders, the Aborigines and other Australians as well as the ne-Vanuatu peoples. See entry for 1994 Summer. [SDSC370]

Ētahi Karakia Baha’i (Book of Bahá'í Prayers) was launched at the Pūrekireki Marae in Pirongia to coincide with the beginning of Māori Language Week. For Dr. Tom Roa, professor of Maori and Indigenous Studies at the University of Waikato, it was the fourth significant translation of canonical Bahá'í texts he and his team have undertaken. This endeavour comes amid broader efforts to revive the Maori language. Dr. Roa, who has been at the forefront of these efforts, says that Maori speakers are a declining share of New Zealand’s population. Maori people make up only 15 percent of the population, and only a fifth of them can have a conversation in Maori, he notes.
Providing access to prayers in Maori was a key motivation for the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of New Zealand when it undertook the process in 2004. A small team of Bahá'ís worked with Dr. Roa, who has translated other spiritual texts into the Maori language, including the Bible and the Quran. The 14-year translation project began first with The Hidden Words, Bahá’u’lláh’s preeminent ethical work, and then Baha’u’llah and the New Era, an introduction to the Faith.
Bahá'í writings have been translated into some 800 languages to date. [BWNS1287; Raglan23 18SEP2018]

from the main catalogue

Faith and Works: Maoris and the Baha'i Faith (1995). The transcript of an interview with two New Zealand Baha'is, Huti Toataua and Hedi Moani, aired by the New Zealand National Radio show "Faith and Works" (May, 1995) on "the growing relationship between the Maori community and the Baha'i Faith." [about]